An NDTV ground investigation across Bhopal, Sagar, Vidisha and Agar-Malwa found that take-home ration supplies had remained disrupted for periods ranging from one to three months at several centres.
In Madhya Pradesh, the administrative structure responsible for providing supplementary nutrition to nearly 8.5 million children, pregnant women and lactating mothers is being changed yet again. The state government has decided to transfer the responsibility for producing and distributing Take-Home Ration, or THR, from the State Rural Livelihood Mission back to the Department of Women and Child Development. This will be the fifth change in the nutrition distribution model since 2018. But while responsibility is moving from one department to another, food is not reaching several Anganwadi centres.
An NDTV ground investigation across Bhopal, Sagar, Vidisha and Agar-Malwa found that Take-Home Ration supplies had remained disrupted for periods ranging from one to three months at several centres.
Anganwadi workers said children, pregnant women and lactating mothers had been registered, their names were visible on government applications and their records were being regularly updated, but the ration meant for them had not arrived.
The nutrition system is estimated to be worth nearly Rs 1,200 crore. Government documents show that schemes are operational, budgets are sanctioned and beneficiaries are registered. Yet, at the last mile, workers are being forced to tell mothers that the packets have not come “from above”.
The contradiction is stark: the system can count the child, weigh the child and record the child on an app, but it cannot always ensure that food reaches the child.
Bhopal’s Link Road is among the capital’s most powerful neighbourhoods. Ministers, senior officials and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan have residences in the area. Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda also lives there.
In a lane behind his bungalow, Anganwadi Centre Number 729 operates from a small room. Nearly 50 children attend the centre. Fourteen pregnant women and eight lactating mothers are also registered there.
According to Anganwadi worker Rama Kushwaha, the centre received Take-Home Ration in April, but no fresh supply came in May and June.
“We received the stock in April and distributed it during April and May. It did not arrive in May and June. It has arrived again in July,” she said.
The supply may have resumed, but the two-month gap raises a fundamental question. The nutritional needs of a child do not pause when a government supply chain breaks down. A pregnant woman cannot postpone her requirement for protein and calories until the next consignment arrives.
For a malnourished child, every missed packet may mean lost growth that cannot easily be recovered.
Madhya Pradesh has 97,882 sanctioned Anganwadi centres operating under 453 child development projects. Nearly 8.5 million beneficiaries are registered across the state. The cost of supplementary nutrition is shared equally by the union and state governments.
Under the Take-Home Ration scheme, children between six months and three years are supposed to receive every month two packets of halwa premix, one packet of child food supplement and one packet of khichdi.
Pregnant and lactating women are entitled to two packets of wheat-soy barfi, one packet of wheat and gram-flour mix and one packet of khichdi.